French Artillery Sword

Product Description

This is a functional sharp EN45 steel sword with a solid tang and a 100% brass, single-cast grip and crossguard. The 1816 artillery short sword was a sidearm issued to the French foot artillery. Heavily influenced by the prevailing neoclassical style of the day, it was supposed to look Roman/Greek, although in reality its cruciform style had more in common with medieval sword types. The short sword was a close quarters weapon for gunners to defend their cannon against cavalry or bayonet charges. How often they were put to this use is debatable, but they did often serve as a fascine knife or a machete to clear fields for the guns. It also served for other practical uses, the French soldiers calling it a coupe-chou ("cabbage cutter"). It was in service until about 1870. The model was reissued in 1831 with minor changes. Most visibly, the newer model had a ringed grip rather than the fish scale pattern seen in the earlier model - and this one is a copy of this later 1831 variant. This popular weapon was copied by both the Russians and Americans (Model 1832 Foot Artillery Sword and Model 1847 Russian Artillery Sword), though the American sword retained the fish scale grip of the 1816 model and the Russians added a serrated edge to one side of the blade so it could also be used as a saw!